you may form "towns" out of groups of friends, but there are upcoming systems to make it closer with actual "permanent groups" called Empires and official claiming of land after that called "Outposts" (which is what people call it today "virtually", but itll be an official system in the future)

Nothing stops you from building your own outpost today, but more systems will be put in place to have the system enforce things.

you may form "towns" out of groups of friends, but there are upcoming systems to make it closer with actual "permanent groups" called Empires and official claiming of land after that called "Outposts" (which is what people call it today "virtually", but itll be an official system in the future)

Nothing stops you from building your own outpost today, but more systems will be put in place to have the system enforce things.

So is there a towny server and a frontier server? If so how do I get to the towny server?

There is a town world that contain protected land where you can build/have fun with your friends. It is important to note the way all of the worlds interact with one another so you can find the one you want to spend most of your time in.

Wastelands: Area reset fairly often to get new world gen features and ores. Because of the often reset, it is a great place to mine temporarily but terrible for long term building. Anything you mine out there can be brought back to any of the other worlds. There is no quick teleport back though so you will need to walk back the the Wastelands spawn. Custom mobs will be found here.

Frontier: This is the older and permanent wilderness world. It shares many similarities to the waste with the biggest difference being that it will never be reset. Because of this, it is a great place to build permanent structures like farms and outposts with friends. There is no official commands/protection system for these outposts yet. With that said, griefing is not allowed at all and will be punished. For this reason, you are very safe as long as you head out a far distance from the spawn and follow the instructions here to get the outpost made official. Many people will tell you not to mine here. Honestly, it doesn't matter. This world is much more "mined out" than the waste because it has been around for years. If you find yourself out there needing materials though or at an outpost, feel free to mine. Custom mobs will also be found here.

Town: This world contains a series of plots called residences. Formal protection systems are used and no one can touch your residence without permissions. You are also completely safe from harm and mobs will not spawn naturally. There are many cool buildings and features built around this world so check them out in the wiki if you get the chance. Under your plot is only dirt though so you must either buy items you need from player run shops or head into the wastelands to mine what you need and return back with the items.

You can access any of these worlds from the spawn of each world. From town, you can teleport around using some commands and can access the spawn from anywhere. In the other two worlds, you must physically travel back to spawn before you can teleport.

I hope some of this helps answer your questions. If you have any more, ask or check out the wiki.